Son of Iron Man
by wellitried4401
Summary: Being 14 is hard enough. Being 14 and the son of the legendary Tony Stark? That's even harder. Ryder is just trying to manage his life as a hero and as a teenager. And when his powers start acting up, he starts begging for a break from his crazy life. But the escape he got is not exactly what he expected. Rated T for violence and blood.
1. Prologue

Tony Stark always wanted to raise a family. It was he and his wife Pepper's dream to have kids. And so finally they had a son. They named him Ryder Stark.

Ryder had a great life. His father was an Avenger. He lived at Avengers Tower, with all the other Avengers. His mother ran Stark Industries. He loved his life.

But at age 7, Ryder was kidnapped. Tony went to go find him only to find Pepper about to be dropped from the top of a building. He was going to save her when he saw his son beaten and unconscious. From his still body, Tony could tell his son was dying. He needed medical attention immediately. Pepper told Tony to save their son and not to worry about her. Reluctantly, Tony saved Ryder but witnessed his wife fall to her death.

Ryder wasn't going to make it because part his heart was giving out. But his father had him go through surgery and he replaced the part of his heart with an arc reactor. The arc reactor was barely visible and no one other than the Avengers, several other superheroes, and Tony's really close friends knew about the operation.

Much like his father, Ryder was extremely intelligent. He wasn't much of a fan of school but he always made straight A's. He taught himself how to hack when he was 8 and he built a computer program at age 9.

But ever since the night of his mother's murder, Ryder always had nightmares. Most of them were about things he had never even seen. For example, a person getting shot or stabbed.

The dreams always seemed to simply be a result of witnessing his mother's murder. Until Ryder was 10.

He decribed one of his dreams to the Avengers as usual. A man named Ezra Grasp was shot in an alleyway and was robbed. He had a blue shirt and a red tie on with blue jeans. Later that day, a news report was that Ezra Grasp had been shot. It was the same as the dream. The Avengers thought it was just a coincidence. But after this happened several more times, they thought it would be best to take him to Dr. Strange. They believed his dreams might have something to do with another realm. It did.

Ryder had a special connection to the Dream Dimension. The Dream Dimension is a place where dreams originate from. It is full of mythical creatures and is ruled by Nightmare the King of Dreams and his son, Night Terror the Prince of Dreams. Ryder's connection let him see the nightmares of other people. Occasionally, he would have dreams or visions of the future. His new power allowed him to bring things from the Dream Dimension to the real world. But he realized if he lost focus on bringing the whatever he was bringing from the Dream Dimension, it would disappear and go back to the Dream Dimension.

After learning of his power, he begged his father to allow him to become a hero. Despite much pleading, his overprotective father didn't even think twice when he answered. The answer was always no. Tony couldn't lose Ryder like he lost Pepper.

But the more Tony thought about it, he realized he could never be good parent if he kept dwelling the past. He had to find a way to move on. He decided he was going to help Ryder build a suit of his own. After a year and a half of working on the suit, it was finally done. Ryder became the hero known as Iron Night. He also decided to keep his identity a secret, using technology to prove that he couldn't;t be Iron Night.

Ryder Stark is a 14-year-old who couldn't hate publicity more, speaks fluent sarcasm, is a tech whiz and a genius, disrespectful at times (but caring and kind a lot of the time), and loves being a hero.


	2. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Marvel or the Avengers

Character I do own: Ryder Stark, Andy Terrance, and Night Terror

If you want to use one of my characters, please contact me first.

Chapter One

Ryder glanced at his watch only to realize it was 1:48 a.m. He looked up and saw his father, along with all the other Avengers, standing right over him. He blinked a few times and tried to wake up. He had fallen asleep on the couch while watching T.V. around twelve. The T.V. was still playing the same show it had been before. But it was quickly turned off and the lights flicked on. Ryder put his hand over his face attempting to shield himself from the light. He almost fell asleep again but something pulled up from the couch. He had to blink a few more times to notice it was his father. But once he wasn't blinded by the light or his eyes weren't so tired, he saw a stern look on his father's face. He looked around and all of the Avengers looked mad. They crowded towards him. "What's going on?" Ryder weakly asked. A sudden pain erupted in his stomach. He looked down and there was a knife through his body. The handle was held by his father. "Dad?" Tears started streaming down his cheeks. Steve took off his mask and pushed Ryder back towards the window. He couldn't get his balance and he fell through the window. He could feel himself falling. The wind pushing him up but the force of gravity pulling him down. He crashed on car. Blood spilt as life escaped him.

He woke up.

Ryder was breathing heavy. He sat up straight and looked around. It had all been a dream.

It was Saturday morning. Ryder was in his room and the T.V. wasn't on. He sighed in relief. He wasn't sure if his nightmare had been created from his own fears or if it meant something. Either way, he decided to keep it to himself. The Avengers had enough going on already.

His room was relatively big. He had bookshelves on one end that surrounded a T.V. His bed took up most of the room but it still left enough space for a desk. His desk was piled with papers and school books. Pieces of technology and homework and tests were scattered over the floor. A pizza box from the night before laid in the center of the room. Notebooks sprawled out on his desk and his phone, chargers, computer, and headphones laid on his bed.

The teenager slid off his bed and changed into a sweatpants and a hoodie. He walked into the living room of Avengers Tower and headed towards the kitchen. Steve was doing push-ups while watching the 9:00 News. Natasha and Clint weren't back from a mission with S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor was in Asgard. The clanging downstairs hinted that Bruce and Tony were experimenting in the lab.

"Morning, Ryder," Steve said while keeping his eyes focused on the T.V. "Morning," Ryder replied in a tired voice. He grabbed the cereal box from cabniet in the kitchen and walked over to the couch. As he was walking, he passed the same spot where he had be stabbed and pushed off the building. All he could think about was the pain that exploded in his stomach in the dream. He stared at that spot for a few seconds before sitting on the gray couch.

"You okay?" Steve asked in a calming voice. His voice made the teenager want to tell him about his dream. He knew if he lied, Steve would know. There was no point in lying to Captain America.

"Yeah, I'm fine," But he did it anyways.

Steve's expression made it clear that he wasn't going to accept the lie. Ryder stuffed him mouth with cereal so he wouldn't have to explain his dream. The man got up and chuckled a little. He found it amusing that kids these days would attempt keep everything to themselves. In his day, if a kid had a problem, the first people they would talk to would be their family.

Ryder thought about the dream. He'd had a dream like that before. It ended up being from an alternate reality where he died. He decided to assume this one was like that and ignore it. Most of his dreams were just attempts to scare him.

Due to him having a connection to the Dream Dimension, his dreams were often nightmares. He was used to it by now, and he knew better than to let them occupy his mind. But it was almost impossible. He could tell you pretty much every nightmare he had. They all stayed engraved in his mind. It was just part of the price he had to pay for having the connection.

"No, I don't think so. Is there something you want to tell me?" Steve snatched the cereal box before the kid could use it as an excuse to not answer.

"You have to promise you won't tell my dad. He'll freak out if he heard this," Steve nodded in agreement and Ryder told him about the dream.

Steve was silent for a moment, then he said, "That would never happen."

He wanted to believe his uncle. Yet, the more he thought about it, the more real it felt. But the dream was so vague. It could mean anything. The Avengers could get possessed, it could be Skrulls pretending to be the Avengers, it could be on an alternate universe or another dimension, and he didn't know when it would happen. It could be tonight or next year. It might not even happen at all!

"Yeah, you're probably right," Ryder got comfortable on the couch. Today was the first day in a long time that he could just relax. Between the expos, parties, and events he had to go to with his father and the all the things that come with being a teenager in school, there never seemed to be any breaks. It was go here and do this. And as soon as he would get a break, his alter ego as Iron Night was needed.

_Finally. A break. There's no- _

Ryder's thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing. It was his best friend Andy. They were supposed to meet as the skatepark near their school earlier in the morning. He answered it.

"Hey, where are you?" Andy asked in a loud voice.

"On my way!" The phone call ended and he ran to change into something a little nicer. He decided on a blue Nike shirt and black basketball shorts. He grabbed his backpack and dashed to the elevator.

On his way there, he ran into his father. "Hi, Dad! Bye, Dad!" He quickly slipped into the elevator to avoid a conversation with Tony. He pulled out his phone and texted Andy. The text said that he would be there in five minutes and he had his homework with him.

Ryder had been letting Andy copy his homework for a while now. Ryder didn't mind. He knew there was a good reason.

Andy's father, Andrew Terrance, was a rich business man. Andrew wasn't the best dad. He was controlling and didn't care about Andy.

Okay, wasn't entirely true. Andrew did care about Andy. The two loved each other, but they argued so much it was almost hard to tell. Andy's mom was the only one who could calm them down enough so they could sit down and eat dinner together without yelling. But recently, they seemed off.

The arguments seemed to be more intense and over a more important situation than the regular stuff. Andy wasn't able to get out as much. Even Andrew's assistant wasn't talking as much, which was definitely a sign something was wrong because she never shut up.

Ryder figured something bad had happened, so he agreed to let Andy copy his homework. He had told himself he wouldn't ask questions until Andy was ready to talk about it. He knew from personal experience that being pushed to talk about the situation didn't help.

After the elevator hit the first floor, Ryder grabbed his skateboard and rushed out the door. He threw the board on the ground and hopped on. He didn't even have enough time to put his sunglasses on when two girls screamed, "Oh my god! It's Ryder Stark! Everybody look!"

Everyone looked.

Ryder had already decided to put off dating for a while. He was already busy enough. But most people didn't know that.

_Can't get a break, can I? _He thought. He cursed and started skating. It would only take a minute before the media would be all over him. As much as he wanted to yell at them to go away, anything he said could be used against him if he ever got into legal trouble. Or the media would make a big deal about it.

The girls didn't bother to chase after him. Still, he sped up. He didn't want to make his best friend wait any longer.

He was forced to stop when an explosion came from the Manhattan Bank. Fire rose from the ground and infected everything it touched. It roared tones of orange and red and yellow. Smoke contaminated the air as citizens cowered and feared. People coughed and attempted to keep the smoke out of their lungs. In the middle of all the chaos, stood two figures. A man and a woman. They had bags slung over their shoulders.

Ryder ran to an alleyway, made sure no one was watching him, and tapped his arc reactor. A red, black, and yellow suit crawled its way onto Ryder. The base of the suit was dark red with black mixed into it on his arms and legs. Yellow highlights outlined the suit. The helmet was also dark red and with a black plate that hid his face. His eyes were covered with slits of technology that enhanced his vision.

The suit was suddenly on Ryder and he ran out of the alleyway. As soon as he was out, he pressed his hands down. Not long after, he was in the air. From the sky, he could see the two figures. It was two thugs with a bunch of money from the bank. They had a getaway car not too far from the bank. They ran towards it and threw the bags into the trunk of the car.

Iron Night flew above the car and planned to bring a lion from the Dream Dimension to stop the car from going anywhere. Did he really need to bring anything from the Dream Dimension? No. They were just some simple thieves who could be taken out by punching them, knocking out the getaway driver, and leaving them for the police. Since this was such an easy task, he felt like showing off a little. Then when he thought about it, he could've just left this for the police. But if he had, the thugs would be long gone by now.

A small black and dark green portal opened. From it, walked a lion with a large mane and golden fur. The lion roared, displaying its large teeth. Or that's what should've happened.

From out of the portal walked a deer. An innocent deer. It had speckles of white and streaks of dark brown on its light brown fur. It was a female, so it had no horns. It looked confused on why it was there and began walking in the street. It was so innocent and unthreatening.

It disappeared after Iron Night lost his focus on keeping it in this dimension. The thugs laughed and piled into the car. "What the—" Iron Night let his confusion be washed away by anger and embaressment as he saw the thieves about to get away. The car started to drag away and the hero flew after them. He shot a beam from the repulsers in his suit. It hit one of the wheels of the car and the car span out of control. The driver tried to gain authority of the car, but the driver's attempts were useless. It crashed into a street lamp.

The driver and the passenger were knocked out from the impact of the collision with the lamp. The woman was sitting in the back and was still conscious. She coughed and got out of the car. She pulled a lighter out of her pocket. "If I can't have this money, no one can!" She skrieked. "That's not the first time I've heard someone say that," Iron Night opened another portal and tried to bring a wolf. Instead, a penguin waddled out. The woman bursted in laughter and lit the lighter. She opened the trunk and hauled out the bags. She ripped open the bags of money and held the lighter towards the money. "That's your finishing move? A pengiun?" She chuckled.

"No, this is," The hero punched her, knocking her out.

He left her there, and the rest the thieves, when he heard sirens in the distance. He quickly flew back to the alleyway, tapped his arc reactor, and the suit folded itself back into the arc reactor. Ryder grabbed his backpack and skateboard and dashed to the skatepark. On his way there, he puzzled over why his powers were acting up. When he brought things from the Dream Dimension, he would think of what he wanted to bring. It was basically always aminals because there wasn't much else he could bring. If he brought anything else, it would make people think he wasn't a hero. The Dream Dimension was full mystical creatures and animals. But also monsters. He really tried to avoid bringing out monsters.

He often tried to keep the animals from being super big. The bigger they were, the harder it was to bring them to this dimesion. They had never acted up before. He had always brought out what he intended to. It didn't make sense.

He got there only to see Andy leaning against a tree, impatiently waiting. He wearing shorts and a neon green shirt. His close cropped red hair looked like it had actually been combed and taken care of, which was an odd for Andy. He usually didn't bother to fix his hair. When he saw Ryder, his annoyed expression didn't change. "Dude, it's been 20 minutes! You said 5 minutes! When did you show up? 20 minutes later!"

Ryder rushed to apologize. There was no point. Andy didn't care about his stupid excuses. He had waited for almost an hour. He sat at a picinic table near the park and Ryder sat across from him. "Andy, I'm really sorry. Here, take the homework," Ryder pulled a small stack of papers from his backpack. Andy took the papers and shoved them in his backpack. "It's fine. But I have to go now," He stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulders.

"Gala?"

"Yeah. My dad wants me home so I don't miss it." Andy jumped on his skateboard and skated away. He looked back before he got into the city street. His emerald eyes were tired and sad. They hadn't been like that a few months ago.

After Andy was gone, Ryder thought about his dream again. Maybe he should tell his father about the dream. Maybe the dream, and his powers acting weird had something to do with each other. He didn't see how they could be connected. Reguardless, he still considered the option.

He sat there for about five minutes. No one was at park, which was weird. The trees were still except for when an occasional breeze blew. The street was not as still. Sirens still blared from where the explosion had happened. Cars honked at each other. People carried bags from shops and talked on phones.

Something felt off. Something was wrong. Something was...missing. Sure, Ryder always felt like he was forgetting something (mainly because he was). With all the events, homework assignments, training, etc., he tended to get dates confused. Yeah, it did feel weird just sitting in an empty park. But this was different. This feeling was stronger. It was hard to explain.

His thoughts were paused when the loud ringing of his phone flooded his ears. It was Tony. He hurriedly answered it.

"Where are you?" His father questioned.

"Skatepark. Why?"

"You're supposed to be at Avenger's Tower. We leave for that event in 5 minutes!"

"Oh, yeah. I'll be there soon." He knew he had forgotten something.

He hung up. "Can't get a break, can I?"

* * *

_A/N: I'm always wanting to improve my writing, and I don't have a beta. So if you notice any grammar or spelling issues, let me know. I do take criticism. I want to know what y'all liked and didn't like so I can do better. Just please be more helpful than harmful. Anyways, please review and let me know what you thought! _

_Byeeee!_

_-wellitried4401 :)_


	3. Chapter Two

_So I have a basic idea of what I'm doing (sort of). But I need filler ideas. If y'all have any ideas, please tell me. It would be really helpful. This is this is my first fan fiction story so reviews would be helpful to know what y'all like and what you don't and what to do and what not to do. Thanks. _

_I don't mind getting messages if y'all want to talk story ideas and what not. _

_Also, this chapter will be pretty short. So just letting you know. _

_-wellitried4401_

Chapter Two

Ryder huffed as he closed the door behind him to the limousine. He panted and tried to catch his breath. His knees ached and stung. On his way back to Avengers Tower, he had tripped over a rock and scraped his knees. The blood wasn't showing through his black pants, which was good.

Tony instructed Happy where to go and the car began to move. Ryder pulled out his phone when he heard his father ask, "Where were you?"

"I already told—"

"Where were you really?" Tony showed him a picture of Iron Night standing over a woman who was unconscious and a smashed car and a penguin standing next to him. The title of the article read in big bold letters, 'Thugs try to steal from bank; Iron Night stops them with penguins'.

He explained the thieves and the explosion. He then explained how his powers acted up. Before Tony could start asking questions, the limousine came to a halt in front of a big building.

The building was tall and had over 30 floors. It had large windows and a massive door. The windows separated the outside world from the interior of the building. The door was all glass and had steel handles. At the top of the building in bright neon letter was a "Klamer Morgage" sign.

Most people don't have parties or events during the day, yet the Klamer family always did. This was a gala to launch their new plan. No one knew what it was. The Klamer's were every good at keeping secrets.

Ryder didn't like the Klamer's. Well, specifically their daughter, Cathlia. She was petty and full of herself. She thought she was better than everyone else. Especially people who were not considered rich. All the "normal" kids were suddenly useless and incapable of doing anything in the world. Though in all honesty, she was the one who couldn't do something on her own. He wouldn't be suprised if she went on to live her life in her parents' penthouse and never did anything but sit around and complain all day.

The Klamer's took advantage of people who were in debt. They would profit off of people in desperate situations and needed money to survive.

"Dad, do I really have to go? I mean, Happy can just take me home. Right, Happy?" There was no point in asking. He already knew the answer.

Happy shrugged.

Tony smiled at his son's attempt to escape the gala. "Come on," He put his hand on Ryder and led him towards the door of the building. "And while we're here, you can talk to their daughter," He gave Ryder the same look he always did when he talked about girls.

"Dad!" Ryder laughed as Tony ruffled through his brown hair.

They walked into the building and were greeted by reporters and businessmen and women. A waiter holding a sliver platter with glasses of champagne came and offered some to Tony. He grabbed one from the platter and took a sip. Quickly, James Rhodes pulled Tony over to talk to two other men in Navy uniforms.

Ryder rolled his eyes and walked to the back of the room. He didn't want to be there and he didn't want to talk to anyone either. But he could stay hidden forever. "Why are you standing here all alone at this wonderful party?" A high pitched voice asked. Ryder looked up and it was Cathlia. She was wearing a short bright red dress and had a sparkling bow that tied up her thin blond hair.

"Um, I was just, uh," He didn't know what to say. If he told her to go away, she would complain to her father, who would tell Tony. All to result in an unwanted lecture. He shrugged.

She yanked him from the wall he was leaning on. "Let's go have some fun," She said.

"How are we supposed to have fun here?"

Cathlia headed towards the elevator. She motioned for Ryder to follow. He hesitantly did. He had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

They made their way to the elevator and Cathlia pushed the level number 27. The elevator jerked and steadily moved upwards. "Cathlia, what are we doing here?" He questioned as the elevator doors opened to the penthouse.

The girl winked at him and walked into a hallway. She began talking about her family and what she wanted to do with her life. She also rambled about how hard her life was and all the drama she went through.

Ryder couldn't have been more bored and annoyed. Getting a lecture from the King of Lectures, his Uncle Steve, didn't sound that bad compare to Cathlia complaining about everything and over exaggerating every problem she ever had.

"Cathlia," He interruptered her from talking about how her friend had betrayed her by posting a video of her being stupid on Instagram. And how she told her parents about it, who then fired her "friend's" sister, who worked for Cathlia's parents.

"Yes?"

"Can you shut up and leave me alone?"

Time froze.


	4. Chapter Three

_Hey guys! I haven't had very much time to write and I'm working on another story and I wanted to get another chapter out for y'all so this one is really short (like really short). The next one will be longer but it might take some time (sorry). Well, I hope you enjoy this short chapter and I hope you're enjoying the story. Byeeee!_

_-wellitried4401 :)_

Chapter Three

Everything was frozen. Literally frozen.

Cathlia's face of shock stayed still. The music from the party paused. The chatter and talking from downstairs stopped. Nothing was moving. Except for Ryder.

He looked around, confused. "What the-" He was interrupted by a black and dark green portal that swallowed him. The portal felt like it was squeezing everything out of Ryder but then stiffing all of it back inside. The colors changed from black to dark green to navy. While the colors changed, different pictures appeared and disappeared. They would only stay visible for a split second but the pictures were very clear. They were of monsters and things that would be in a nightmare or things people would be afraid of. Which could was anything.

That's why Ryder could bring anything. But if no one was afraid of something, he wouldn't be able to bring it from the Dream Dimension.

The portal spit Ryder out in the middle of a room. The room was large and had a musty feel to it. But it was destroyed. The walls were crumbled and the stone floor was in pieces. At the end of the room there were two thrones. One was bigger and was in the center. The other one, which was smaller but still big, was on the left. The throne in the center was broken. On the smaller throne, sat Night Terror, Nightmare's son and Ryder's nemesis.

"Hello, Ryder."


	5. Chapter Four

_Hi! Sorry for the wait. Also sorry that the past two chapters were really short. I've been really busy and haven't had much time to work on this and, like I mentioned last chapter, I'm working on another story. _

_So I have a storyline thanks to **Volcanostar-kun **but after I finish it, it's gonna end up being just a bunch of unrelated one shots of Ryder's life. _

_Also, if this comes out after my other story, they are not related. None of my stories will be related (they might have a lot of the same characters or something) but they won't be related in anyway (unless I say so, I guess). _

_I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported this story. It may not seem like much but for my first fan fic, it's a lot more than I expected and I really appreciate it. _

_Thanks again to **Volcanostar-kun **for your awesome idea. _

_I hope your enjoying the story and I hope you enjoy this chapter. All that aside, let's get on with it! _

_Byeeeeee!_

_-wellitried4401 (:_

Chapter Four

"Night Terror. I knew you were behind this," Ryder said, referencing to the problems he'd had earlier with his powers and his weird dream while also mentally smacking himself for not even considering that Night Terror was behind it. "I need your help," the Prince of Dreams told his enemy.

Night Terror looked similar to his father. With black unkept hair to his shoulders and sea greenish skin. He had red eyes that made the hair on Ryder's back stand. He wore a baggy white shirt and light gray pants. It was a little strange to see Night Terror in these clothes because normally, he would wear a dark purple robe and black shirt and pants.

"My help? What do you need my help for?" The young hero exclaimed.

"Malekith's son Zyghotr and Ronin the Accuser's daughter Kyssa are on the hunt for a stone called the Lightstone. They came here thinking we had it. When they realized we didn't have it, Zyghotr used his power to control the monsters of this realm. They destroyed my father's kingdom and took him captive," Night Terror explained.

"That doesn't make sense. Nightmare controls the monsters. And isn't he really powerful in his own realm?"

"Zyghotr's power is far more powerful than anything I have ever seen. He was able to overcome my father's control even in his own realm. And once he gets the Lightstone and transforms it to the Darkstone, as you mortals say, all hell breaks loose."

Suddenly, several sets of images appeared in Ryder's mind. It was of a girl. She was on a hiking trail on her knees next to two other people. They looked like her parents and they kept praying. A gun was held to the man, who was in the middle. There was a loud bang. The man was dead. "Alan!" The older woman screamed. "Dad!" The girl shrieked. Another gun shot. "Mom!" The girl panicked. Tears were streaming down the girl's cheeks. Blood poured out from the bodies. After a few seconds of sobbing, she looked at the shooter with hate in her eyes. She stood and the shooter pointed the gun at her. She grabbed the gun and threw it into the woods. The shooter was surprised and became scared. He began to run but the girl grabbed his arm. She pushed him down on his knees and yanked his neck. He was dead. The girl looked at her bloody hands and began sobbing all over again.

The images stopped playing. Ryder's face was in shock. It made him remember his own mother's death. "My father is losing his control over the fear and nightmares of the world. If he is gone much longer, the Dream Realm will be consumed by the darkness. I will die and your connection will be broken. Until my father is returned, we must work together," Night Terror said.

"You saw that too?" Ryder asked. Night Terror nodded his head. "They will only get worse," He sighed.

_Why am I even listening to him? He's probably lying? _

"I'm not lying Stark." Night Terror said, making Ryder realize he had just said that out loud.

"You tried to destroy me two months ago!"

"I was under the control of my father."

"And now you want to save him. Yeah, I'm not buying it."

"I'm doing it for my world. What will you be willing to do for yours?"

"Take me back," Ryder decided he would tell the Avengers and get their advice. Sure, they were overprotective-except for Clint-but they had been through basically everything. They would know what to do.

"You know where I am if you change your mind," Night Terror snapped his fingers and the teenager was back in the Klammer penthouse in front of Cathlia. They music and chatter downstairs resumed. Things were moving again.

Cathlia scoffed. "I can't believe you. When they said I had a chance with you, they never mentioned how rude you were."

The young Stark almost choked on his own spit. "That's what this was about?" He questioned.

"Yes."

"Nope, no way, not ever. Anyways, I gotta go," He ran for the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor. The elevator beeped and jerked downward. Ryder's plan was to find his father before Cathlia had time to explain what he had just done. Also, he needed to talk to the Avengers and if they heard what he'd said to Cathlia, they would think that the whole Night Terror thing was just an excuse. And he had used crazy exuses in the past.

But by the time he found his father, Cathlia had found hers first. Who just so happened to be talking to Tony at the time.

_How did she get down here so fast? _He thought. Then he saw another elevator that was right next to Mr. Klamer and Tony. Ryder cursed and walked to the back of the room.

He checked his watch. Only two more hours.


	6. Chapter Five

_Ok, this'll be a pretty uneventful chapter but I just felt like writing something fun. It'll basically just be the Avengers being parents to Ryder cause why not? If you don't like that kind of thing, you can go to the bottom of this chapter. I'll tell you everything that happened relating to the actual story. _

_This might be a long chapter cause I find it really easy and fun to right about parents being overprotective and that kind of thing. I don't know why. But it's not gonna be all fun and games. (Of course I have to ruin it by adding something dark and sad, so there's your warning)_

_Anyways, I'll stop talking so you can read it. _

_Byeeee!_

_-wellitried4401 :)_

Chapter Five

When Ryder gets in trouble, there are always five different punishments he has to go through.

Steve-lectures

Tony-grounded or getting things taken away (his phone, computer, lab privileges, etc.)

Natasha-training really hard

Clint-listening to his corny jokes

Bruce-therapy

Thor-history lessons of Asgard

"What?! Dad, you're overreacting!" Ryder tried to tell his father. "Hand it over, now," Tony said sternly. He held his hand out and his son slowly put his phone in his father's hand.

"This is so stupid!" He groaned. He was sitting at the kitchen overhang on a stool. Tony had just given him a list of punishments and getting his phone taken away was one of them. Steve stood near the stove, cooking dinner, while also making sure Tony didn't curse too much.

Tony and Mr. Klamer had been in the middle of making a partnership when Cathlia told her father what Ryder had said. Mr. Klamer immediately broke off the partnership. And as they were about leave, Mr. Klamer pulled Ryder over and told him if he ever said something like that to his daughter ever again, there would be consequences. Ryder had rolled his eyes and mumbled, "What a bunch of dramatic, whiny b*tches."

He didn't mean for Mr. Klamer to hear him. But he did. And made a big deal about it to Tony, which ended with Ryder in more trouble.

Tony began to go on this rant of how the partnership had been broken off and it had lots of cursing in it. "I think what Tony is trying to say," Steve interrupted, "is that what you said was unnecessary and disrespectful. And that he doesn't want it to happen again," Steve said calmly as he threw some spices into the pot on the stove.

"It won't happen again, I promise," Ryder quickly said. "Now that's out of the way, what should I do? Do I trust Night Terror or not? If he's telling the truth, this could mean that the Dream Dimension is at stake."

Both Steve and Tony looked at him like he was nuts. They had seen and been through weirder things. Why was this so surprising?

It wasn't long until he found himself in the training room with Natasha. He was used to their spars, but when he was in trouble she would go extra hard on him.

They always had the same rule: no powers or weapons. Just hand to hand combat.

Natasha threw a punch at Ryder, who dodged. He thrusted a kick at her. She moved out of the way and charged him. He thought he had evaded her charge, however, she anticipated that he would move and punched him again. He was unbalanced for a split second and she used that time to kick his legs. He landed flat on his back on the training mat.

"Go again?" She asked.

"Yeah."

They charged each other. Ryder made the first move, throwing a left hook her way. She hurriedly moved out of the way and flipped over him. Suddenly, she was behind him and punched him from behind. Before falling, he caught himself by tapping on his arc reactor and his suit coming on. He pressed his thrusters down and soon was up in the air. He started shooting his ruplusers at Natasha.

She pulled out a little remote and pressed a button on it. Ryder's suit immediately disabled and folded back into his arc reactor. He fell onto the mat from several feet in the air but was fine. (All of the Avengers had this remote for both Tony and Ryder's-they used Ryder's more often-incase their suits had gone rouge)

He quickly got up and walked over to the wall he was closest to, and angrily punched it.

"Ryder, I didn't mean to make you mad," Natasha apologized.

"No, it's not you. It's my dad and Uncle Steve. They aren't listening. They're caught up in the what happened earlier that they think I'm lying about this whole Night Terror thing," Ryder stopped, realizing he hadn't told the other Avengers. "What Night Terror thing?" Natasha asked like she was interrogating him.

This would've made anyone else scared, but Ryder was used to it by now. He explained everything that had happened with Night Terror to her.

"And you're not lying about this?" Natasha questioned. "Aunt Tasha," the teenager looked her dead in the eyes. "I wouldn't lie about this. What I saw, it was horrible. I wouldn't make that up just for the fun of it or to keep me from getting in trouble."

As a trained assassin and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Natasha could tell when someone was lying. Even the best liars hadn't gotten past her. She knew Ryder wasn't lying. And she knew that he needed guidance from all of the Avengers. She had made bad decisions before and without the help of the Avengers, she would be a very different person. If she could get them to listen, they would know how to help Ryder. But first, she had to calm him down. There was no way the Avengers would listen if his temper was raging.

"I will get them to listen, on one condition," Ryder looked her curiously. "You calm down," She watched him as he nodded silently and took several breaths. "You're getting pretty good at being an aunt," He smiled.

Natasha chuckled and they walk out of the training room. They found the Avengers happily eating Steve's cooking in the large dining room. Natasha and Ryder sat down at their designated seats.

The conversation was about some political stuff that Ryder could care less about. Having the Avengers as his family was awesome, though it did get boring being surrounded by adults all the time. Especially when he was grounded and didn't have his phone.

Now would be the time he would pull out his phone and find something to do on that until the conversation became about something he cared about. Steve, who sat next to Ryder, would occasionally look at his nephew's phone and then puzzle over some of the things the new generation were doing.

Today, he just ate quietly and kept his head down. He wanted to avoid making eye contact with anyone, especially his father who sat across from him.

The table was big, brown, and rectangular. Ryder and Tony sat at the edge, with Steve and Natasha next to them. Thor was next to Steve and Clint was next to Natasha. Hulk sat on the floor (he wanted to and he broke all the chairs he sat in) at the head of the table, next to Thor and Clint.

"Ryder, why don't you explain what happened again," Natasha said.

"Huh?" Ryder perked up, completely unaware what the conversation was about now. All he could think about was that girl. Maybe it was her fear, or someone else's. Or maybe it was a memory. Whatever it was, it made him think of his own mother's death. It also made him realize that if his mother's death had happened when he was older, he probably would've killed them too if he got the chance. And that scared him.

"About Night Terror," She explained.

"It's probably better if I just showed you," Ryder could do this thing where he could project his memories into other people's minds. He rarely did it because (1) his father hated it because it always hurt Ryder and gave whoever he showed it to got a major headache. (2) there really was no reason to do it and (3) Ryder hated doing it. He didn't want his family to see what had been going on in his mind.

He pressed his hands together then separated them. He began levitating and his eyes glowed. He kept his mind focused on the girl and Night Terror. He tried to show them. He tried really hard. But the more he focused on it, the more blurry it became and he had trouble remembering it even though it was only a couple of hours ago.

Instantly, he lost control and projected something different. His mind was flooded with something new. He couldn't get it out of his mind. It was similar to the one about the girl. The Avengers saw it for a few seconds. Then Ryder fell back into his chair and closed his eyes. He was stuck in the flash of pictures.

It was of a hooded figure. The figure was standing over a woman and a man, both soaked in blood. A pistol was in the figure's hand. The smell was horrific. It smelled like death, fear, and blood. The street was dark and dimly lit by a street lamp. A little boy, 6 maybe 7, came running into the street. "Mom, Dad!" He cried. The boy saw the hooded figure take off his hood. "Nate?" Apparently the little boy knew the man who had the pistol. "I'm sorry little brother," There was a loud bang.Three bodies. A man, a woman, and a child. There were about five people watching. All five were shot dead in twenty seconds.

As this was happening, Tony was panicking. Ryder had fallen from levitating, projected an image of a dead man and woman into their minds, and wouldn't open his eyes.

With kind of powers Ryder had, these types of things happened enough that the Avengers had a protocol. Hulk would turn into Bruce Banner (basically the only time he was willing turn into him) and Bruce knew how to wake him up. This time was different. All the tricks Bruce had learned over the years weren't helping at all. Steve brought him to the Med Bay and laid him in one of the medical beds, but there wasn't anything Bruce could do.

"Tony, this isn't your fault," Steve knew Tony was blaming himself. He always did. "I didn't listen to him. If I had, none of this would've happened."

Before Steve could say anything, Ryder sat up from the bed, panting heavily. The rest of the Avengers flooded the Med Bay. "What happened?" Clint asked.

Ryder explained what he saw. "Night Terror said they would only get worse. That was way worse than the last one."

"You must help thee," Thor decided.

"Really?" Bruce questioned.

"I'm with Thor. If these, whatever they are, are only gonna get worse until Nightmare is returned to the Dream Dimension, you have to help Night Terror," Tony agreed.

The rest of the Avengers agreed. "Okay. I guess I'm going to be working with Night Terror. This'll be fun."

And a green and black portal swallowed him. He was back in the Dream Dimension.

_Authors note: In this chapter I kinda shipped Tony and Steve but they aren't a thing. If they do like each other, they hide it pretty well (sorta). I'm not really gonna explore that anyways. Anyways...I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a lot of fun with it and hope that you didn't mind that I went away from the storyline a bit. _

_**If you didn't read this chapter:** all that happened was that Ryder chose to trust Night Terror and is going to help him bring Nightmare back to the Dream Dimension. And the pictures that flash in his head are getting worse. _


	7. Update

_Hi! So this just an authors note and I wanted to let you guys know why I haven't updated Son of Iron Man in a while. I probably will be updating it with a new chapter in a few weeks (hopefully) but I can't promise anything. School started a few months ago and I've been really busy. Also I've been in a bit of writers block and haven't really had motivation to write. But I have a week break in two weeks and I plan to update all of my fanfics and post the ones I've been working on. Another thing I want to mention. I created an Archive of Our Own account if any of y'all want to follow me on there. I'll just be posting the same stories but I might write some things only on there. You guys probably don't care but if you don't mind, I would really appreciate it if you followed me on there too. I've heard Archive of Our Own is better for beginners of writing fanfiction so I just decided to try it out. I'm still gonna post on here. But I'll also be on Archive of Our Own too. My username is the same and you should recognize the stories. So the point of this was—I'm going to be posting the next chapter of Son of Iron Man in a few weeks and I'm sorry that it took so long, and I created an Archive of Our Own account. So I'll see y'all in a few weeks._

Byeeeeee!

-wellitried4401

(That's my username by the way)

Ok bye for real this time.

Byeeeee!

-wellitried4401


	8. Chapter Six

_Hi! So here is the chapter that I said would come out. I know it's not long but it's the best I could do. Also, the story got in a little bit of a ditch and I wasn't sure what to do until the next chapter. I'm already writing to next chapter so hopefully that is out soon. Thank you guys for sticking with me even when I don't update for a couple of months. As always, I hope you enjoy!_

_Byeeee!_

_-wellitried4401 :)_

Chapter Six

The realm of Earth faded away and the realm of dreams reinstalled into view. "I see you came to your senses."

Ryder sighed. "Let's get those over with."

The prince stood up from his throne and trotted towards the hero. "We'll have to find the lightstone first to stop Zyghotr. Once we stop him and Kyssa, we can rescue my father. I know how to track the lightstone but I can't get us there. We'll have to find another way of transportation. And we have to keep a low profile. The last thing we need are heroes trying to destroy me and villains trying to destroy you."

They walked to a computer that was buzzing and flickering. "Search for cold signatures," Night Terror instructed. Ryder crackled his nuckles and began typing. He searched for cold signatures. Several places glowed. But one location glowed the most.

"It's in Canada. Toronto, to be exact."

"Toronto?"

"Yup. That's what I just said."

"Is there a specific location?"

"Landle Laboratories. That's where Happy's aunt works."

"Someone's name is Happy?"

"You're in no place to judge, Night Terror."

"Do you have any ideas on how to get there?" The computer fizzed and the screen turned black.

"I think so. My school's football team is going to play a school in Toronto. It's really close to the lab. Everyone has to go on the bus but you can just pretend to be my family member or something."

Night Terror frowned. "Are you sure that will work?"

The teenager chuckled. "Nope. Not at all."


	9. Chapter Seven

_Hi! So here's the next chapter! I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I probably won't update until next year but next chapter should be long since I have a longer time to write it. I hope you enjoy this chapter and reviews are always appreciated. And now, I will stop talking so you can start reading this chapter!_

_Byeeee!_

_-wellitried4401 :)_

Chapter Seven

The bus was loud. Very loud. There were six buses in total. One for freshman, one for sophomores, one for juniors, and one for seniors. Two more were for the football team, drum line, and cheerleaders

It was easy to get Night Terror in as Ryder's cousin. He had used an illusion to change his appearance and he looked like a normal human now.

Andy had asked his best friend if they wanted to sit together. But Ryder couldn't leave Night Terror by himself. There was too much at stake. If the prince was lying about everything, he could kill everyone in the bus.

Understandably, Andy was a little pissed. They had promised each other they would watch movies and make up for all the time they hadn't gotten to hang out. That idea was thrown out the window.

Things would be so much easier if Andy knew about Iron Night. However, he couldn't know. If he did, he would be at risk to everything stupid, dangerous, and reckless thing Ryder did. Every villain he faced, Andy would be at risk to facing their wrath.

"What do you think the lightstone does?" Night Terror asked.

Ryder took out one of his earbuds. He was glad his dad had given him his phone back for the football game. Though he knew he would have to give it right back once he got home. "Unleashes destruction."

"No, that's what the darkstone does. What does the lightstone do?"

"Something with light? I don't know. Maybe it creates stuff since the darkstone destroys," He thought over the question. He was curious to know what it did. He also wanted to know where it came from and how Landle Laboratories got their hands on it.

Night Terror seemed amazed. "The power to create. That would be powerful."

His expression changed to confusion as he watched Ryder mouth the words to a song and violently nod his head to the beat.

The teenager noticed his enemy's odd expression. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Never mind."

* * *

About two hours had passed. Night Terror sat still in silence, as he had for the passed hour. And Ryder was currently watching a movie.

The bus was still loud. A select few kids were quiet and were doing their own thing. But most kids in the freshman bus were blasting music and singing on a speaker. Or picking on some kids. Or screaming for no reason.

The bus driver was an elder man. He had his headphones on and turned them up as loud as they could go. Even though they were soundproof, the loud yelling was still heard.

He was positive something was wrong with those kids.

* * *

"WHO ARE WE!" A loud voice screamed.

"MANHATTAN HIGH SCHOOL!" A chorus of people shouted.

"WHO ARE WE!"

"MANHATTAN HIGH SCHOOL!"

"WHO'S GONNA WIN!"

"MANHATTAN HIGH SCHOOL! LET'S GO PANTHERS!"

"PANTHERS ON ME, PANTHERS ON THREE! ONE, TWO, THREE!"

"PANTHERS!"

* * *

The bus pulled to a stop at a football stadium. It had been almost 9 hours. It was around 7 pm.

The freshmen piled out of the bus and met up with the other grades. They swarmed the entrance to the stadium.

Suddenly, a new image invaded into Ryder's mind. A woman with long black hair and blue skin kissed a man. The man had pointy ears and white hair. He had icy blue eyes and blue skin. He smiled at the woman. They walked onto, what looked like, a bridge of a ship. Another man, dressed in a blue armor, saluted the man and woman, then told them, "Sir, we have located the stone."

The man smirked. "Set a course for the location. I must have a word with our guest. It seems he has allowed some intruders on our conversation," He turned towards Ryder and punched him. It knocked him out of the images and onto the ground.

He opened his eyes and saw Night Terror on the concrete next to him. Most of the students were in line to get into the game and the entrance was still crowded.

"Are you okay?" Andy held out his hand to help Ryder up. He also helped Night Terror. "I'm fine. I'm not really sure what even happened," Ryder answered.

"We need to leave," Night Terror said. His hands were shaking. He needed to find his father. It wasn't going to be long before all he and his enemy could see would be fears.

Both Andy and Ryder looked confused. "Dude, we just got here," The Stark reasoned.

"And we must leave. They are on their way!" Night Terror replied, grabbing Ryder's arm.

"Who? Who are on their way?" Andy questioned.

"No one," The young hero lied.

"Ryder, we are leaving. Now," The prince said sternly. They needed to get to the lightstone as soon as possible.

Andy stood in front of them, blocking their path to leave. "Tell me what's going on."

"Bring the human with us. We cannot waste anymore time!" Night Terror grabbed the Andy's arm and started pulling both boys away from the stadium.

"Where are we going?" Andy asked.

"Landle Laboratories," Ryder shook off his enemy's hand. He waited until they were far enough away from the stadium, then he pressed his arc reactor. His suit slithered onto his body.

"What the—" Andy was suddenly lifted into the air as Ryder flew towards the lab.

"You're Iron Night?!"

"Yeah."

"Then who is that?" Andy pointed to the Prince of Dreams.

"Night Terror."

"WHAT?!"


End file.
